1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an apparatus for making a sheet of food dough of a laminated structure, such as a sheet of puff pastry dough, Danish pastry dough, croissant dough, or the like. This invention particularly relates to a dough laminating apparatus for laminating such a dough sheet when it is manufactured.
2. Prior Art
A prior art laminating apparatus of this kind is disclosed in FIG. 6. It shows swinging vertical plates 61 and 62 that are located between an upper conveyor 60 and an underlying conveyor belt 11. When a dough sheet 1 is supplied from the conveyor 60 to the conveyor belt 11 through the gap between the plates, the dough sheet is swung by the plates and continuously folded on the underlying conveyor belt 11.
There is a large distance between the upper conveyor and the conveying surface of the underlying conveyor belt. The plates do not hold the dough sheet. As a result, the dough sheet hanging between the plates 61 and 62 tends to be extended by its own weight while passing through the gap between the plates. This results in a change in the thickness and/or the width of the dough, and inevitably leads to an increase or decrease in the amount of the supplied dough sheet. As a consequence, a random variation occurs in the weight per unit area of the dough sheet to be folded. When the dough sheet is folded, a laminated dough block having a uniform thickness and width thus cannot be obtained.